A Perfectly Relaxing Afternoon

Curling up with a Fuzzy Blanket

and an Egg Nog Latte



and working on my Cross-Stitch



(this isn't what mine looks like... mine's a little larger...)

Meanwhile, Nic is enjoying a full day of NFL ;)

Thanksgiving with the Cramer's

We had a great time yesterday with my family. We headed down around noon and were there until midnight! When we got there we spent some time catching up - telling my parents about our Weekend to Remember (they sent us) and hearing about their time at the ocean. My brother was able to get off work early to come spend the day with us - and Amy came after she got off work. I went to visit her for her lunch break and brought her a plate of the appetizers the rest of us were enjoying at home! We played lots of Rock Band - Chris has tons of songs, so it doesn't get old! :) For dinner, we had a perfectly traditional Thanksgiving feast: Turkey (fried isn't traditional, but was delicious!), stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes & gravy, yams, asparagus, layered salad, orange jello with mandarin oranges, martinelli's and cranberry juice, and pumkin pie with whipped cream and egg nog for dessert! It was incredible ;)

It was really fun to spend all day with my Nic, Mom & Dad, Chris, Amy and Scott (her new boyfriend!) I enjoy their company more than anything in the world.

Update

Unfortunately, I haven't been keeping up very well with my blog, so I'll have to re-cap some things I wish I had more time to dive into. That's okay :)

Nic and I had the BEST time at our Weekend to Remember. We learned more than we thought we would, were inspired to be more selfless, and entirely enjoyed a weekend away together where the subject was the welfare of our marriage. We really benefited from the curriculum and felt really loved by the speakers and their heart for our marriage (and the 200 others there with us!) If we needed a jump start on our second year, we sure got it! ;) ...Just a side-note with this...earlier this week we had a pregnancy scare since recently I forgot my BC...oops. Test was negative, though, and surprisingly, we were a little disappointed. Anyway, I am thinking of getting off the pill...not to get pregnant, per se, and I don't think it's effecting my body in a huge way, just maybe giving me anti-sex desires sometimes, that's mean.

Happy Thanksgiving! Yesterday Nic and I went to his parents house and enjoyed a fun day with his family. I helped a lot with dinner, which was fun and helped me to feel a little more like a member and not a moocher! :) Steve and Carol gifted us, for our anniversary, with a popcorn maker, popcorn kernels, a magnificent popcorn bowl...and the best part of all - a subscription for Netflix! :) We are so excited to do movies this way!! Anyway, the boys played some football outside, I played for a little while, but decided I'd rather go inside and talk with the ladies - go figure ;) We had a delicious dinner, not too traditional, which was fun and quite different for me. After the festivities, the boys and I watched Be Kind Rewind. Pretty interesting movie...and I guess it's based off a true story. After the movie, it was getting late, but we stayed later - this is uncharacteristic for us usually because we're always having to think of our early morning the next day. But since we have today off we had no worries :)

Tomorrow, we're going down to my parents for another Thanksgiving feast. Nic and I are going to get a deep frier and do up the turkey and most of the fixin's. I'm excited to see my parents <3

Our Turn

We sent Collin and Amber last weekend and this weekend it's our turn to run off to the Weekend to Remember!

We're really excited to spend the weekend together and be guided and instructed and encouraged in our marriage. We're really new at it and welcome godly advice anytime :) And what a fun way to get it - to spend a weekend in a resort and be able to simply focus on each other and not all the other distractions that home-life allows. I feel like we really need a push to continue on in the right direction. I've found myself in a selfish rut and need to be booted in the rear. Hopefully, this weekend will provide that kick ;)

Today, though, before we leave I'm going to try to tidy up our condo so we can come home to a relatively unstressful place...we'll see how I do :) I have the encouragement of my current favorite type of music - hymns. I decided to try Pandora and so far, I'm really impressed. I can't believe it's FREE!

Weekend with the Bustanoby Kids!

We spent last weekend with Reese, Dallas, Ava and Norah and we had a great time :)

An overview of what we did -

*Polar Express with Dallas and popcorn (then Ava joined us when she woke up from her nap)
*Community Group - definitely a new experience to be responsible for kids during this
*Woke up at 6:30 both mornings!
*McDonald's happy meals ;)
*Woodland Park Zoo
*Bottle feeding sweet Norah
*Mac n' Cheese and Cheese Pizza for dinner
*Lots of DIAPERS to change!
*Read books before bed and nap-time
*Answered lots of questions - kids never run out!
*Went to church - we were 15 min. early...usually we're late - this just doesn't add up!
*Play Play Play

We had a really fun time being with these kids all weekend. Maybe we can do it again!!

Praises

Praise the Lord for everything. There are some things that can't be explained, but still praise be to Him. Praise Him for the easy things and all the more for the difficult ones. Praise Him for challenges to my faith and heart and lifestyle. I praise Him and thank Him for my husband and his encouragement to me in my walk with our Lord. I know that I'm eternally fortunate to have such a faithful and God-fearing husband. To try and walk this world without Nic, who is God's gracious gift to me, would be an even greater heartache.

I need to remember and embrace the rest my soul can have when I am resting in Jesus alone.

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; My hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress. I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God, He is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your hearts to Him for our God is our refuge."

Psalm 62:5-8

Life Boils Down to These Two Questions

Take a moment to consider these two questions:

Should I get a dog?



"Hmmm....."


Should I have children?



"Oh dear...."

We are currently re-evaluating :)

Just kidding - this was an e-mail my Mom forwarded to me.

Kinda silly, huh?

Wedding Photos II

Anniversary Weekend

Saturday afternoon we took off to the Marriott Hotel by the airport. When we got there our room was upgraded because it was our anniversary - isn't that great?! We spent some quality time in our room... ;) And then went to dinner - Claim Jumper - Mmmm... My brother works there and we got to see him a little bit, which was wonderful! I ordered what I usually get, a Cobb Salad, and Nic ordered a Cobb Sandwich - we are two peas in a pod :) After dinner we went home and went swimming! Having access to a pool was definitely a highlight for us. We love to swim and relax in the jacuzzi and we did that a lot that weekend. Sunday morning we went down to Aqua/Terra one of the hotel restaurants for breakfast. After that we went swimming again and then got ready to go...Where would we go? This was a surprise that Nic waited until we were on our way to tell me. We went to the ZOO!!! :) (Point Defiance in Tacoma) I absolutely love the zoo, so he knew it would be perfect. What a good guy! It rained a little, but I was so glad to be there that it made no difference and we trekked around like it was no big deal :) Good thing I had a hood, that's for sure! After the zoo we went back to the hotel - this was such a treat! We decided to chill for a couple hours and we watched Hitchcock. And then went swimming AGAIN... For dinner we went to the Cheesecake Factory in Southcenter. It was the BEST!!! My dinner was excellent - Bang Bang Chicken and Shrimp. I highly recommend it. Yummy and spicy peanut sauce, chicken and shrimp, of course, shredded coconut, carrots, green onions, rice, and everything nice - it was so tasty :) And Nic got Fish Tacos - unfortunately, he said he's had better, but they were still good! I wish I could have shared mine with him, but he's allergic to peanuts...bummer...don't worry, though, he's not anaphylactic. AND, most assuredly, we ordered Cheesecake, as well! I ordered their 30th Anniversary cheesecake - it was delicious! And Nic ordered an Oreo Chocolate one, yum! This was the best dinner I've had in a long time. And now I'm always craving Cheesecake Factory :) When we got back to our room we decided we wanted to watch another movie - This time we chose The Dark Knight! Such a great movie...but by this time we were both so sleepy from a long day and it was getting late, so we dozed through the whole thing :) On Monday, our actual anniversary, we slept in, ordered room service for breakfast, lazied around, went swimming, and didn't check out until the last minute :) We headed home around 1 in the afternoon... What a great weekend we had!

Happy Anniversary, my Nic. Love you, sweetheart.

Wedding Photos

In lieu of our anniversary I thought I'd take the time to upload some wedding pictures. They are in no particular order - I just clicked at random and these are the ones that came up!

We can't believe it's been a year already. We feel and ARE so blessed. It is our goal to draw closer to the Lord as He draws us closer to one another in our marriage. He has brought us so far already, we can't wait to see what He'll do with us this coming year. Praises to Him!!!

Let's Make Dinner!

I just got home from spending the day with my Mom. We made 7 freezer meals. This is definitely the way to go as far as cooking dinner goes, that's for sure! I am so glad to have that done because I'm sure that they'll last us forever! It'll be the best to have something yummy to throw in the oven on a night when I just don't feel like cooking! AND, It was really great to spend time with my mom and do something productive together. A few days ago, I decided I wanted to spend some one-to-one time with my Mom and I thought it would be great to make some meals with her if she was up for it, and she was! Yay! :) It was so fun cooking and getting to talk with her and just to enjoy each other's company. Since getting married and moving to Edmonds, I don't get to see my family as much as I used to. So I always welcome a chance to spend time with them! ;)



(Thanks, Mom, for spending the day with me - I'll look forward to doing it again soon!)

P.S. I love November.

We had an AMAZING* Anniversary weekend.





*I'll write about it when I'm not so exhausted!